At times it is a challenge to look at the fiery highway crash of American political discourse and it's also had to look away. How did this toxic mess happen, and how is it that the States seems to have learned so little about how to address the serious issues which divide, including race?
In the past 18 months the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) has galvanized people to the political left and right. One of the more perserve aspects of all this is the use of the example of Martin Luther King Jr. by those who are on the political right, including by those who are white supremacists in outlook, if not overt affiliation. There are plenty of conservative Christian pastors and commentators who have done so as well.
Dr. King's children have denounced this misrepresentation and last year on Martin Luther King Day daughter Dr. Bernice King, a lawyer and minister tweeted "Dear politicians/political influencers: When you tweet about my father's birthday, remember that he was resolute about eradicating racism, poverty and militarism."
In another tweet she said:
Please don’t act like everyone loved my father. He was assassinated. A 1967 poll reflected that he was one of the most hated men in America. Most hated. Many who quote him now and evoke him to deter justice today would likely hate, and may already hate, the authentic King
In an interview the same day there was this observation:
I was listening to a commentator a few years ago who said that Dr. King has been turned into Santa Claus kind of this jovial happy person who said, 'I have a dream,'" said Eva Paterson of the Equal Justice Society. "But I was a freshman in college when he was assassinated and remember that he was not well loved. His whole history has been revised and sanitized."
In his ”I Have a Dream” speech, MLK spoke of “the marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community,” and reminded the nation that Black people could “never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.”
On this Martin Luther King Day we can pray and act for justice and reciprocity for all with the reminder that racism exists here in Canada and must be addressed systemically and personally. The United Church has recognized its sin in this regard and you might read the statement of our General Council from two years ago:
https://united-church.ca/news/black-lives-matter-united-church
Bless God frost and snows! Seriously!? Click here for my Groundling blog today
https://groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.com/2022/01/bless-god-frost-and-snows.html
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